Separate Ways
by gamemasterTP
Summary: Confined to studying for the majority of her life, Cecelia Pegasus, the only heir to the Pegasus Estate, finally gets the opportunity of her lifetime, including repairing the broken ties between her and an almost forgotten friend, Seto Kaiba. Will Maxmillion Pegasus allow his daughter to refrain from her independent studies and live a new life?
1. Unusual Summoning

Separate Ways

Chapter One

Exhausted from hours of pointless studying, she took her overwhelmingly large Advanced Computer Systems textbook and placed it on the small hand carved wooden endtable beside her luxurious and expensive dark leather study chair then leaned back into it in hope to ease her mind from the complex scripts she had been scrolling through within the bland texts. She took in a deep breath then exhaled slowly, until she was interrupted by the obnoxious buzzing of her pager by her bedside, causing her to leap out of her seat instantly in desperation to turn it off. She rushed across the huge suite of hers to her bed area to hush the small device by quickly shoving a delicate finger into the answer button.

"This is Cecelia," she answered as sweetly as she could.

"Yes, darling, I know." Her father's charming yet eerie voice purred into the speaker to respond. "Is it possible to see you for just a moment or two?"

She backed away from the pager, estranged with anticipation, then came back to her senses.

"Um, yes, of course!" she replied courteously. "I'll be on my way now."

"That's my girl." Maxmillion Pegasus finished kindly. "See you soon, dear."

Cecelia hung up the pager, still confused and anxious over the situation.

"What on Earth could he want me for?!" she asked herself in a harsh whisper.

. . .

"Croquet," Maxmillion called to his butler in the corner of the suite near the door. "Could you go fetch Cecelia for me? To ensure she gets here all right?"

The butler bowed respectively in obedience.

"Of course, sir." He responded kindly, then headed out of the suite hastily. Maxmillion sighed heavily in remembrance.

"Shoot, I forgot to start some coffee…The young lady will need some after her studies." He remarked suddenly then got out of his living area perkily to prepare a fresh brew of gourmet coffee for himself and his daughter. After the machine started up, he went back to his living area to his ebony black grand piano, taking a stack of scores from the stool and began to skim through long scores of advanced pieces he wanted to listen to. Ten minutes had passed, not only did he forget about the fact that the coffee was ready five minutes ago, but he was finally greeted by the warm feeling of his stunning daughter's presence.

Dressed in a simple yet flattering medium purple gown, she bowed to greet her father politely.

"Good afternoon, father," she spoke out of the mysterious silence firmly. "You wished to see me?" she raised an eyebrow suspiciously, unsure what he could possibly have on his mind to finally summon her after such a long period of time.

Maxmillion let out of a short chuckle happily.

"I did, yes." He told her sweetly. "Come, could you have a seat for me at the piano?" he held out an arm gracefully to lead her over to the large piano kindly.

Cecelia nodded affirmatively, following his gesture strangely over to his study and sat down at the beautiful instrument hesitantly. She giggled lightly in hope to ease the mood a little.

"So," she began to play intricately, eyeing the scores in front of her occasionally, already familiar with the piece from years before. "You summoned me to play for you?" she paused for moment to take in the melody serenely. "I thought you could play for yourself?"

"Mmmm, something like that, I suppose," Maxmillion listened calmly to her artistry at work as she slightly modified the piece from what he remembered. "It's just been such a long time since I've heard you play last."

"It's a shame, really." Cecelia continued sharply. "You missed my final exam."

Maxmillion gasped quietly.

"In Computer Systems?" he asked her painfully. "Goodness, I didn't think you would finish so soon."

"No, father," Cecelia continued dryly. "My final piano conservatory exam. Do you not recall my request to study music professionally?"

"Cecelia, dear, you could have mentioned it beforehand…" Maxmillion sighed in guilt. "I would have made the time to attend…You know I'm very busy, it must have slipped my mind…"

"It's been _four years _since the request, father." Cecelia edged on with a touch of anger in her voice.

"Forgive me, my child." Maxmillion went on coolly. "Now then, that's not what I wanted to see you about." He raised his voice slightly but firmly, placing another four page score in front of her on the stand. "I wanted to share a proposal I have with you. You can multitask, yes?"

Cecelia shot him a look out of the corner of her eye.

"I could multitask when I was five years old, father." Cecelia replied bluntly, examining the score in front of her briefly. "I'm twenty now. Chat away." She began to play softly and gracefully.

"Anyways," Maxmillion started again while pondering. "I have noticed that the regional charts for Duel Monsters have shifted significantly…"

"Oh?" Cecelia spoke out in interest yet remained suspicious. "Might I ask in what way?"

"Well, for one," Maxmillion purred playfully, knowing it would catch Cecelia's attention, "Seto Kaiba isn't the regional champion of the Domino area anymore."

Cecelia tensed up suddenly, nearly crashing hard on the keys of the piano until she refocused herself towards her music.

"But…" she managed to say. "Seto's been Domino's champion for-"

"Years, I'm aware, dear." He finished for her in amusement of her concern, looking over her in awe as her delicate fingers of the piano majestically, noticing that she had become a bit uneasy.

"And what does that have to do with anything?" she asked him firmly, glancing over at him occasionally. "So there's a new ranking champion, what's the point? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you see a potential threat for your reputation, if all you seem to notice is that Seto has been defeated." She sat up perfectly straight smugly. "From what I remember, you rarely pay attention to any other region."

"And that's why _you're _here." Pegasus cooed at her charmingly. "I want to have a tournament here, and the victor will face _you_, and _you _will see if he or she is worthy of dueling me."

Coincidentally finishing the piece as he finished his statement, she turned to face him, a bit agitated.

"Wait, you're going to let me _play _Duel Monsters?!" she asked him in shock. "The first time I've played in _years,_ and you want me in a _tournament_?!"

"What's the matter, my child?" Maxmillion asked her half-heartedly. "Are you doubting your abilities?"

Cecelia blinked blankly at him.

"You've never allowed me to touch the game in years, other than the official rulebook to study leisurely." She informed him sternly. "Me, myself, would be a little concerned, given the situation, yes." She stared back down at the keys to think. "Something tells me you've already planned something. Far in advance."

"Maybe," her father teased, an innocent across his face. "Would you like to find out?"

Her glare hardened instantly.

"I'm going to regret this, I'm sure." She remarked dully.

"Very good!" Pegasus cheered. "Already off to a good start!"

"Wait, come again?!"

"Come, we must see to our guests!" he pranced to the door in excitement, nearly dragging her out of the suite behind him. Halfway down a large and regal hallway, something clicked in the back of his mind.

'Oh, shoot, I forgot about the coffee again.' He thought lightly. 'Oh well.'


	2. Let the Games Begin!

Chapter Two

Just finally arriving on Maxmillion's island, Yugi Mutoh and his friends scanned the island in wonder, taking in the large landscape of trees and the lakeside, to see an enormous castle in the distance.

"Man, this place is huge!" Joey remarked in fascination. "And we get to duel here?"

"I guess so." Tea responded, just as amazed and content as usual. "We _are _talking about Pegasus here…He's rich!"

"To be honest," Yugi joined in "I just want to get my Grandpa back! I don't care much about the prize itself…"

"Hey, man, I do!" Joey retorted. "This tournament might make the difference for my sister! It'll pay for her surgery!"

"Oh, yeah." Tristan chimed in. "Serenity is still in the hospital…"

"If I win the tournament," Yugi continued "I'll give you the prize money so your sister can get the surgery"

Joey's eyes widened in shock.

"You mean-"

"Welcome to the Duelist Kingdom Tournament, my friends!" a calm, handsome voice came before them. The group of friends looked over at the castle in the distance, to see two small figures atop a balcony.

"Hey, let's hurry! We want to get a good view!" Tea told them.

. . .

"Father," Cecelia had spoken out awkwardly. "By the looks of it, people are still arriving at the island…Perhaps we should wait?"

Maxmillion chuckled charmingly.

"Daughter, please, I'm so excited!" he told her happily. "Not to mention we don't have time to waste!"

Cecelia pouted lightly.

'I don't know what game he's playing,' she thought suspiciously 'But he's not fooling me any.'

From down below, Joey ahead of the rest of the gang, finally arrived at the courtyard of the castle. Looking up at the balcony, Joey and Tristan gazed at the woman beside Pegasus.

"Heyyy, who's that hot babe?" Joey squinted, red-faced.

"I dunno, Joey," Tristan replied slyly. "But she's definitely a scorcher." He winked at Joey cunningly.

"Father," Cecelia gritted through a bright smile for the crowd. "You're not going to make me take on all of them, are you?"

Her father smiled at her proudly.

"No, dear, of course not." He assured her in a similar fashion. "Only the finalists will get the privilege of challenging my little girl."

Cecelia sighed in flattery.

"Alright," she muttered. "But you still haven't told me what this whole thing is about!"

"Oh, right." Pegasus remembered fakely. "Now for the next order of business."

Still chatting away about the mysterious young woman standing with Pegasus, Yugi halted them the instant he saw Pegasus raise his hand to disclose the rules of the tournament.

"…And the _finalists _of this prestigious tournament," he spoke on from above. "Will then be put to the test by lovely daughter here, the beautiful duchess of Duel Monsters herself, Miss Cecelia!"

At the sound of his explanation, her eyes widened in shock the instant he called out her name, then cleared her throat quickly. She stepped forward, then bowed to address the crowd formally.

"Yes," Cecelia spoke out confidently with finesse and a beautiful smile, hiding her awkward and estranged expression nervously. "So work hard…And perhaps you will get the privilege of challenging me!"

. . .

"WHAT?!" Joey shouted obnoxiously. "We get to _duel_ that hot chick too?!" he swooned dreamily. "Aw, man, I'm in Duelist Heaven…"

"Quiet down!" Tea whispered harshly with a slap to his face. "She'll hear you! You have to get that far first, you pig!"

"Now what she _meant_ was," Tristan jumped in smoothly. "You're facing regional champs here! Keep the 'tude you're pulling and you'll have no chance with the girl!"

Joey sneered at Tristan childishly.

"Easy for you to say, Mister I'm-Not-Duelling-In-This-Tournament!" he shot back stubbornly. "At least _I'll _get to duel with her and _you_ won't!"

Tristan snickered through his teeth.

"Nope," he teased back cunningly. "I'll be watching _you _make a fool of yourself in front of her instead!" he burst into laughter. Yugi ignored them with a great deal of effort, still listening to the Pegasus duo speak.

"So let the games begin, my friends!" Cecelia chanted from the tower. "And may only the best come out on top!"

"Oh, I'll be on top of _something_ by the end of this…" Joey muttered to himself perversely.

Minutes after the opening of the tournament had ceased, Cecelia stood blankly as all the contenders of the tournament scattered quickly into the stunning view of the island, with her father glancing over her shoulder with a warm smile.

"You spoke so well, my child," he complimented her charmingly. "As expected from you, of course."

Continuing to stare out into the landscape, the sun beginning to set over the water, she frowned.

"Father, I don't understand…" she hesitated to follow up with him nervously. "You've always been so strict with regards to my studies and it really doesn't make sense to me…Why have you all of a sudden eased up?"

Maxmillion paused for a moment in confusion.

"Darling Cecelia," he finally spoke out. "You have proven that you've been working very hard for so long…I thought I'd surprise you with a little break and some fun, is that too much for you? Do you approve?"

She turned away from the view half-heartedly to face her father with a kind smile.

"Forgive me, father," she bowed apologetically. "It's been such a long time since I've had a bit of leeway that I'd forgotten how compassionate you can be." She brightened her smile beautifully. "Of course I approve of it…It just really took me by surprise, hehe." She giggled at the pun she had made cheerfully. "Oh, I'm so excited now! I guess I had better throw a deck together, hmm?" she looked over her shoulder, to see none of the duelists in her sight. "It won't be long before we have guests in the castle, I'm sure.."

Maxmillion galloped on the spot in joy.

"I'd give it another day or too, dear, don't get too ahead of yourself." He joked. ""However, we had better part ways for now if you want a decent deck, you have thousands of cards to shuffle through tonight…Oh, I can't wait to see you play! Until then, my child!" he shuffled back inside hastily, leaving Cecelia blinking cluelessly at his dramatic attitude.

"My goodness, that was so fake it was all over his face.." she remarked in humiliation. "I really need to think this through…I think a walk sounds pretty good right about now…"


	3. Small World

**A.N: **I would like to thank all of you who continue to read my stories despite the uneven schedule of my publications…This summer I have been shaken by some depressing events, and I haven't really had much motivation to do anything the past few months…Also, I would love to hear how some of you think about the story so far, so if you can, please review!

Chapter Three

Sitting patiently yet restlessly in his dungeon cell, Mokuba started at the wall through the bars, sadly waiting for the moment for his older brother to save him promptly.

'I know Seto's here,' he thought with determination 'He's gotta be…'

Proceeding with her walk to ease her mind from the sudden change of heart from her father's decision in allowing her to duel as a major figure in his 'surprise' tournament, Cecelia strolled through the halls of the dungeon eerily , with the heels of her moderately raised pumps clanking along the stone floor rhythmically. 'I haven't been down here in ages…' she thought strangely 'It looks a little run down…I wonder how long it's been since some did some cleaning down here.' She continued down the halls calmly. 'I wonder if Seto's here to participate in this tournament as well…' she suddenly thought hopefully. 'Then chances are I'll get to face him, which I suppose would add to my father's so called surprise…'

Hearing the echoing of her movements from just down the hall in his cell, Mokuba had snapped back into reality and got up from sitting on the floor carefully, his legs asleep from being stationary for so long.

"Uh, hello?" he called out curiously yet cautiously, catching Cecelia's attention instantly. "Is someone there?"

Stopping in her travels, Cecelia looked around carefully, finding nothing in her sight. She stood still suspiciously.

"I-I am here," she answered calmly in steadiness and a great deal of anxiety, thinking it was one of her father's workers. "But where are you?"

She started to walk forwards again slowly, while scanning the area intricately. From his cell, Mokuba's spirits lifted immensely in excitement.

"Uh, I wish I could answer you honestly," he called out to the dark halls eagerly. "But I really don't know where I am, uh, Miss.." he continued nervously. "Or why I'm here…"

'Oh no, it's just a little boy..' she thought frantically and sped up down the halls. 'I didn't even know that these dungeons were still in use…' she continued to put the pieces together strangely. 'Father is definitely up to something and I really don't like it.'

"Don't worry, my friend!" called out gracefully down the hallway, hurrying along as she looked in every cell. "I'm coming to help you!"

Mokuba gasped in awe.

"Wait, you mean," Mokuba continued skeptically, his hopes still growing greatly. "You're not here to hurt me?"

He saw a slender, older looking beautiful girl peer into his cell, stopping right in front of him with a miserable frown.

"No, of course not…" she told him kindly. "Like I said before, I'm here to help you!"

She scanned the bars of his cell carefully, looking at the old, rusty lock curiously to see if she could open it. 'I have just the thing, hehe…' she thought happily, reaching up into her silvery blonde hair. 'This works on every door in the castle…I'll be damned if it doesn't work here…'

"Don't worry," she assured Mokuba confidently, pulling out a long, thin hairpin from her long locks, releasing a thin bunch that draped over her seemingly perfect face. "I've got this one covered." She carefully slid the pin into the keyhole of the lock. "By the looks of things, this should do just the trick.." she continued to calm Mokuba easily, gently twisting the pin to prod tediously around the lock, but it wouldn't unhinge. She sighed heavily with impatience. "Darn it.." she cursed herself under her breath. "Please forgive me, sir, but I don't carry the keys for this lock.."

"Hey, at least you tried, Miss!" Mokuba encouraged proudly, then sighed. "But if you don't mind me asking…Uh…Who are you exactly?"

Cecelia's eyes widened in shame of herself.

"Goodness me, I'm sorry!" she gasped in disgust. "This is the most excitement I've had for quite a while, I forgot to introduce myself!" she curtsied politely. "My name is Cecelia, sir. Cecelia Pegasus, Maxmillion Pegasus' daughter."

Mokuba stared at her in bewilderment.

"Wow, no way!" he gasped in shock. "Man, I didn't even know Pegasus had a daughter…"

Cecelia frowned sadly.

"Well, not many people do." She explained to him kindly. "You see, I'm supposed to be confined to my room to study…But for some reason my father is letting me duel in this new tournament and I'm really unsure if the reason he told me is valid…" she sighed miserably. "So, you have no idea why you're here!"

"Nope." Mokuba tone changed to a depressed, mopey sound. "But I don't really have to, because I know my older brother's on his way to come rescue me!" he smiled half-heartedly.

Cecelia's heart warmed slightly, making a slight smile sneak through her stone expression.

"You sound like a lucky guy." She replied dreamily, always wanting a sibling of her own, but never had the chance to. "Your brother sounds like a great guy to have around."

"You bet!" Mokuba agreed cheerfully, crawling towards her limply from within his cell, holding out his necklace which had resembled the back face of a Duel Monsters card. Cecelia peered down at the charm in fascination as he pressed the latch down on the side of it gently. Inside, the charm revealed a small picture of Seto Kaiba in his youth, causing Cecelia to inhale dramatically at the sight, making Mokuba nearly jump.

"S-Seto Kaiba is your older brother?!" she nearly shrieked, surprising Mokuba a great deal.

"Wait a sec," Mokuba followed up, a touch of suspicion in his voice. "If you're always locked up in your room and you're barely known about, then how do you know Seto?"

Cecelia smiled warmly.

"It's quite the simple story, really." She responded coolly. "Gazeburo Kaiba was a very good friend of my father's." she crossed her arms proudly. "I used to see Seto quite frequently years back, before Gazeburo had passed…" she continued to explain after a frown. "But after that, I haven't seen Seto at all. Your brother was my best and only friend…"

"Funny," Mokuba grinned cheekily. "He never spoke about you."

Cecelia smirked in acknowledgement.

"Interesting." She shot back playfully. "I knew he had a younger brother, he used to talk about you quite a bit." She thought for a moment to recall. "I remember him always saying you two were really close…Mokuba, right?"

Mokuba's eyes widened once again in wonder.  
>"So we are talking about the same person!" he laughed happily. "Wow! Seto had a girlfriend and never told me?" he joked. Cecelia blushed slightly and giggled.<p>

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far, heh heh." She replied modestly. "Really, we were just good friends!" she remembered the encounter with the lock. "Oh, right!" she blurted out hastily. "Now then, I'm going to try and get the key to this old cell and get you out of here, okay?"

"Okay!" Mokuba agreed firmly. "Thanks so much, Miss Cecelia!"

"Cecelia is fine, please." She responded courteously. "I don't expect friends to address me formally. I promise, I'll try to be quick!"

"Be careful!" Mokuba told her politely. "And hey, Seto's been really lonely with just me around to keep him company, so if you want, you have my okay to come visit!" he laughed cheerfully. "I think the _real _reason he never talks about you is because he really likes you! He isn't really one for saying how he feels, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case!"

Cecelia went completely red.

"Oh, uh, thank you!" Cecelia laughed it off lightly. "One might say I wouldn't be troubled by it, I appreciate the offer."

With no further commentary, she winked at Mokuba coyly and rushed out of the dungeon hastily.


	4. Change of Plan

Chapter Four

Finally back on the main floor of her huge home fifteen minutes later, Cecelia headed towards the security office with a devious plan brewing quickly in her intelligent mind.

'If Father has this big tournament going on outside,' she recited to herself surely and smartly 'Then the chances are that he has all the guards patrolling the outside grounds, rather than them being at the ready for dispatch…Not like he ever uses his guards for anything exciting anyways, they were all probably excited to get outside for once…'

Not paying much attention to where she had been heading while she continued to think ahead to execute her plan, she had been casually strolling past the Dining Hall, where her father had been enjoying a luxurious dinner with a comic book in one hand and a glass of expensive red wine in the other. Hearing the constant clicking of her pumps against the clean floor, he had looked up from the page he was on, catching her attention briefly.

"Cecelia, dear," he called out kindly. "You couldn't possibly have your deck put together already! Where could you be heading off to?"

'Don't think about the plan,' she thought instantly 'Father's eye will read my mind just like usual…'

She cleared her mind as soon as she could.

"Well, you'd be surprised!" she laughed it off. "As I was heading back to my room, I had already had the perfect deck in mind!" she crossed her arms proudly. "I have been studying the game for _years _with your help, after all, I don't see why it would take much time at all!" she shrugged coolly. "So now that the deck's ready to go, I'm strolling around to see if some of the workers here are willing to take me on to test it out!"

Maxmillion hesitated to respond at first so he could peer into her thoughts quickly with his Millennium Eye, only to find that she seemed rather excited to participate in his tournament and that she was eager to find someone to play with her new deck.

'I'm so glad to see she's bought my story..' Maxmillion thought delightfully. 'If I had to explain the whole tale she wouldn't be so cheery…'

"An excellent idea, my child," he told her proudly. "I guess you are a chip off the old block after all!"

Cecelia scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, naturally confused with yet another sudden compliment, which Maxmillion understand with his lack of attention towards her over the years. He instantly felt a small sharp pain of guilt then brushed it off lightly as usual.

"I try my best!" she went along it anyways in a happy mood. "Well, I don't want to waste too much time! Enjoy your supper, father!" she took off down the hall quickly.

"Wait!" he called out to her hastily, to see her head pop through the door yet again a few seconds later. "Shouldn't you have supper, too, dear?"

Cecelia's eyes widened.

"Uh, thing is," she laughed lightly. "I'm not really that hungry right now…Maybe later, okay?"

Her father chuckled coolly.

"Have fun, darling." He told her finally. "Enjoy it while you can."

She finally left the room after a beautiful smile of appreciation, continuing down the hall blankly for a minute to prevent her father from prying into her mind to reveal her hidden plan to save Mokuba, then proceeded to the security office, which, sure enough, was empty of officers to stop her from grabbing the keys. She grinned at the sight of the deserted room in victory.

"Oh, how I love being so smart." She complimented herself slyly, then headed to the back of the room where the master ring of keys were kept. She snagged the keys off the hook on the wall then headed out of the office innocently, giggling smugly as she strode along down the halls back to the dungeon.

"No duelists in there," she joked as she carried along. "Oh well, I guess I'll have to continue my search."

. . .

Meanwhile, back in the dungeon, Seto Kaiba had managed to arrive on Pegasus' island and sneak into the castle to rescue his younger brother, just like Mokuba had told Cecelia about an hour previously. Finally able to get past all the guards at all the castle entrances, he proceeded down the halls of the dungeon quickly and cautiously to find Mokuba. He had managed to hear the shuffling of chains from far down the hall, the sound coming as just an echo to is ears and decided to follow it, hoping it was Mokuba who had been making the noise to attract his attention. He began to run down the hall, suddenly arriving at the cell where his younger brother had been held captive.

"Seto!" Mokuba cheered, watching as his brother had attempted to pick the lock with a gadget he had taken out of his pocket, causing Mokuba to sigh sadly from within the cell. "Seto, I don't think it will work, Cecelia had come earlier to try and pick it but it wouldn't budge because it's so old.."

The instant Seto had heard Cecelia's name, he froze immediately.

"Wait, you've met Cecelia?!" he asked bluntly. "Where is she now?!"

"She's on her way to her room for a short nap," a too familiar voice joined their presence from behind them. "The poor girl has tired herself from so much studying, she's so dedicated…"

Knowing it had been Maxmillion Pegasus behind them, Seto spun around angrily.

"And whose fault is that?!" he shouted at Pegasus. "That's all you _ever_ let her _do_!"

"Oh, come on now, you know I have good intention for it," Pegasus sighed heavily. "My beautiful girl has so much potential with that smart brain of hers, why not put it to good use, hmm?"

"Because that's not fair!" Mokuba yelled in Cecelia's defense. "Sure, she's pretty and smart, but she can be an awesome duelist, too, if you give her the chance!" He crossed his arms sternly. "But you never let her out of her room!"

'Mokuba seems to have a decent understanding of Cecelia's situation...' Seto thought to himself briefly. 'So it must have definitely been her that was trying to save him…'

"My little Cecelia is already a phenomenal duelist, so it would be pointless to waste time on such a thing when she could be doing much more productive things…" Maxmillion argued back, pulling a large bunch of her to reveal his left eye devilishly, which began to glow a bright gold colour. "Now _you'll _be quiet."

Looking over his shoulder quickly to get a glimpse of his brother in horror, he had seen Mokuba lying on the ground face down on the floor of his cell motionlessly. He growled angrily and launched himself at the steel bars.

"Mokuba!" he cried out frantically, shaking the bars with as much strength as he could muster. "What have you done with him, Pegasus?!"

Maxmillion laughed it off nonchalantly.

"Oh, just a little magic trick, Kaiba," he teased handsomely, letting his silver hair back over his face dramatically. "And if you want to ensure you don't meet the same fate, then you will do as I say..."

"Oh, yeah?" Seto heckled back "And just what do you want me to do?"

"You and I share I common hatred, you see…" Pegasus continued, keeping Seto impatient with anger. "I want Yugi Mutoh brought to me to deal with myself."

Just then, they both heard a steady clicking noise that slowly grew louder as the seconds passed. From down the hall, Cecelia had seen a tall, brown haired man in front of Mokuba's cell accompanied by her father.

"Seto?!" she called as she continued to run down the hall with determination. "Is that you?"

Seto glanced over Maxmillion's shoulder to see Cecelia hurrying over to them, her long blonde hair swaying behind hair rhythmically back and forth as she ran.

'Man, Mokuba and Pegasus weren't kidding when they said she's good looking…' he thought awkwardly. 'She looks so different since I saw her last…'

"Shoot, now look what I have to do…" Pegasus had muttered then frowned. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to retaliate and break your heart, Kaiba-Boy."


	5. The History of The Items

Chapter Five

"Shoot, now look what I have to do…" Pegasus had muttered then frowned. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to retaliate and break your heart, Kaiba-Boy."

'No!' Seto thought nervously. 'Not Cecelia, too!'

Maxmillion's eye began to glow a bright gold once more, but Cecelia managed to keep a stern face towards her father in heavy concentration. He turned to face his daughter sadly, to find she was still standing with an angry glare at him.

"What?!" he cursed himself lowly. "How did-"

"Your little 'magic trick' won't work on me, father, I've learned how to counter it!" she snapped furiously. "How dare you try to captivate your own daughter's soul for your own needs?! Give Mokuba's back now!"

Her father smirked reluctantly, while Seto stared dreamily at Cecelia as she challenged him forcibly. 'I've never seen Cecelia opposite him before…She must be getting fed up with him by now..' he noted in wonder.

"Well, darling, I was unaware that you even knew about my little trick, but no matter…" Pegasus defended poorly, not even looking at her again to avoid her scolding stare.

"You're right, it's no matter at all!" she continued on even more livid than before. "You either give back what you took or I'll force it from you instead, and you and I know quite well that I'm very capable of doing so." She readied a stance to dash as if from some martial art she had learned. "You made a big mistake to allow the Paradox Brothers to take me on as their pupil in Kung-Fu."

"Ah, my dear," Maxmillion went on sinisterly. "You'll have to catch me first."

Just as he concluded his final words, he had disappeared from the scene in a smoke, where Cecelia had dove to grab him the minute he formed his sentence, falling to the stone floor landing on her chest, giving her a sharp pain for a moment or two. She smashed two fists onto the ground, growling angrily at her failure, sat up on the ground and shoved her face into her hands sadly.

"Damn it!" she bellowed to the air with a boom, continuing to smash her fists against the ground. Unsure of what to do, Seto knelt on the ground beside her and put a hand on her shoulder, making her jump at the feel while he massaged it gently.

"You know how to get Mokuba back, don't you?" he asked her in a low yet serious tone, making her look up at him with a sad expression across her face. "Please, help me, Cecelia."

She nodded affirmatively to him.

"You have my help, Seto." She assured him firmly, then stood up from the ground limply. "You are my friend." She blushed and turned away from his gaze. "My best friend."

Seto looked down at her with a straight face awkwardly.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Well, I heard of a Yugi Mutoh in the conversation somewhere…" Cecelia began hesitantly. "Yugi Mutoh…Is that the guy that-"

"Took over my region in the standings, yes." Seto cut her off abruptly, hating the sound of Yugi's name. "Sorry, I'd rather not talk about it. Does that mean I have to find him and duel him again?"

Still in aftershock from being silenced by him, she snapped back into focus quickly, frowning.

"It does seem that way, yes." She answered nervously, avoiding eye contact with his troubled but handsome face. "Um…Are you comfortable with doing so?"

Seto jumped at the sound, continuing to stare seriously into her eyes, making her blush further.

"Of course I am." Seto answered lightly, giving her a slight smile. "You don't need to be afraid, Cecelia, it's what I do best." He put both his hands on her shoulders, finally receiving a returned glare and smile. "You don't need to doubt me, Cecelia. I would love to see you duel, too, but like you said, I need to handle this one."

Cecelia showed him a kind, charming smile.

"I believe you, Seto," she responded softly. "And I know you'll make the right choice by taking on Yugi…But I do think that we should call it a night first, both your mind and body are probably exhausted from your trip.."

"Same with you." He agreed with a firm nod. "This is definitely more action than you're used to, I'm sure."

Cecelia giggled and let her hair down out of her ponytail with a relaxed exhale, her long silvery locks falling neatly down to her waist.

"No kidding," she laughed, making Seto feel warm inside. "Here, come with me, there are some things I wouldn't mind discussing with you before we go to bed…" she showed an awkward smirk. "Um…to start…I want to warn you that you should keep your mind alert at all times, I'll explain more when we get to my room."

'She wants to talk to me alone?' Seto thought with an intense amount of pressure. 'Could this be about what I think it is?'

"Uh, sure." He responded strangely. Cecelia turned around to begin leading the way.

"Thank you for letting me help, Seto," she continued gratefully. "Now then, please follow me."

. . .

About fifteen minutes later, Cecelia and Seto had finally arrived at the staircase that lead up to Cecelia's personal quarters. She headed up the stairs first gracefully, pulling on the front of her dress to prevent herself from tripping, with Seto following behind her, mesmerized by the sight of her shiny blonde hair that extended all the way down to her waist, ending slightly above her behind, making him blush moderately.

"Well, here we are, the same old room as always." Cecelia joked lightly, opening the door hastily, turning around enough to see Seto sort of zoned out. "Uh, Seto, is everything alright?"

Seto snapped out of his awkward trance immediately.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he retorted defensively. "It's just been a while since I've been here last, it kind of brings back memories…"

"I see." She acknowledged happily, "Come on in, it hasn't changed much…Would you like a coffee or something? I'm making some for myself." She headed over to a small cabinet beside an interesting looking machine.

Seto smiled, nodding appreciatively.

"Sure." He replied, then chuckled. "Leave it to you to take care of me when I come to visit, some things don't change, I guess, heh heh."

Cecelia grinned cheekily.

"Of course not." She joked along, pressing a button on the front of the machine. "You are my guest here, Seto. Now, where is that mint…" she trailed off as she shuffled through little bottles of various flavourings. "Ah, here it is." She pulled out the bottle from the cupboard. "Seto, did you want the usual make I do for yours?"

Settling himself down on her sofa in the study, he could already taste her memorable mint coffee. 'Man, I never know how much I miss her until my next visit…'

"Yes, please."

"Alright." She replied sweetly. "I'll be over in just a second…"

With a fresh brew of coffee finishing its cycle, she took the glass pot and poured them both an expensive china mug full off coffee, then put two drops of mint extract in both, followed by milk and sugar adjusted to both of their tastes. After stirring both mugs swiftly, she placed them on a small serving tray and carried them over to her study where Seto had been lounging comfortably. She handed him his coffee.

"Here's yours." She told him kindly, sitting down in her favourite chair with hers. "Now then, the main order of business I wanted to take care of, starting with my father's little stunt earlier…"

Seto sipped his coffee in delight, the taste bringing back memories of their past as friends. Every time he had visited along with his stepfather, she would always make him a coffee with a shot of mint, which he could remember sipping through various occasions.

"Right," he remembered from earlier in the day. "The thing that took control of Mokuba and almost you."

"That is correct." Cecelia continued to explain in a serious tone. "You see, there are these rare and valuable artifacts known as the Millennium Items, one of which my father owns…" she raised her hand to the side to show a wide array of large books on the tall bookshelf behind her. "I've done a lot of research on said items, and they are said to each wield their own mysterious and ancient powers…And from experience, I have learned that the one my father has, the Millennium Eye, has the power to look into and control the minds of others."

Seto listened to her attentively and in wonder. She tapped her forehead with her other hand's index finger.

"Like I had mentioned earlier," she continued firmly "I have been able to learn how to counter it's power, and that's why I warned you to keep your mind alert at all times…My father does not need to be within eye's sight to use its abilities." She took a sip of her coffee, which eased her internal tension slightly at the soothing taste of the mint, then cleared her throat harshly. "Pardon me. Furthermore, it is also said that these Egyptian artifacts are tied to an alternate universe known as the Shadow Realm, which has been rumoured to be accessible using the dark magic of these items…"

"I hate to interrupt, Cecelia," Seto jumped in harshly. "You can't _possibly _expect me to believe this old mythology about magic and stuff…I find it surprising that you, an extremely intelligent woman, believe them as well…"

Cecelia raised an eyebrow cockily.

"I'm flattered that you think I'm smart and all, but I'm sure if you had felt the feeling of mind control, you'd change you opinions rather quickly." She crossed her arms coolly and tucked one leg under the other in a poised position. "Seto, you're my best friend and I'm trying to keep you safe from harm, whether or not you choose to believe me is your own decision…I feel awful for dragging you and your brother into this mess, all I'm saying is for you to take caution…" she chugged back the rest of her coffee and got up from her seat and went over to the sofa where Seto had been sitting, sitting down very close to Seto. "And on that note, I shall be heading to bed…If I were you, I'd play it safe and stay in here with me-"

"Cecelia!" Seto cut her off awkwardly, his face completely red. "I understand that we're friends in all, but that's going too-"

"Calm down, Seto!" Cecelia barked on top of him, making Seto slump in his seat cowardly. "I didn't mean in my _bed_! I meant here in my _room_!" she grabbed his shoulders briskly, her eyes tearing up slowly. "Seto, I don't think you understand the issue at hand here…Please, just do it okay? You seem to take a liking to my sofa, anyways…"

Seto sighed indecisively. 'It can't be all that bad,' he tried to reassure himself. 'Cecelia isn't like her dad at all, and my trust in her has never failed me before…'

"Alright, then," he finally spoke out. "I'll stay here with you, Cecelia. It also allows me to look after you while you sleep as well to make sure nothing happens."

Cecelia's frown turned into a warm smile.

"Thank you for understanding, Seto," she took her hands off of his shoulders gently. "And as a token of my appreciation…" she drew her face closer to his carefully, placing her lips on his cheek softly and gave him a warm, sweet kiss. Seto froze at the intricate feel of her on his face with his eyes widened as the feeling crawled down his spine sweetly, turning completely red as she backed away from him gracefully, her cheeks warm with the intensity of the moment. "I think with that, you'll get a good sleep." She giggled cutely. "Consider yourself one lucky man, Seto, a gift like that from me is a once in a lifetime opportunity." She tiredly walked over to her giant four-poster bed and crawled in happily. "Good night, Seto."

Seto remained silent as he pulled a handmade blanket off the back of the sofa, lying down on the sofa still in aftershock from her tender kiss, and fell asleep with no effort at all.


	6. Carrying Out the Procedure

Chapter Six

Tossing in her sleep irritably, she could feel that something wasn't right in the conscious world, or maybe it was just with her. Seeing nothing but swirls of shadows and darkness, she couldn't escape her nightmare, only able to squirm uncomfortably in her bed.

"Father…" she nearly growled from her unconsciousness. "Get out…"

Hearing her faint voice, Seto got up from the sofa after being woken up by her tossing and turning, creeping over to her as quietly as he could to get a closer look. She seemed troubled, but he was unsure if he should wake her up. Instead, he climbed up onto her huge bed carefully, shifting close to her side so he could softly stroke her hair in attempt to calm her down.

"I don't know what's going on in your head, Cecelia…" Seto told her as a soft whisper. "But I hope you can fight it off. I know you can."

Cecelia continued to turn fiercely in her sleep, her hands fisted together.

"Let…me…go!" she shouted, returning to her conscious self, to find Seto sitting over her as she slept, his hand hovering right over her face. "Uh, Seto?" she blinked at him blankly. "Why are you not sleeping?"

Seto retracted his hand quickly, staring sympathetically down at her.

"You were making quite the commotion." He told her simply. "Are you alright?"

Cecelia closed her eyes, exhausted.

"Yes, I am at peace now." She sighed heavily. "My father is trying very hard to ensure that I forget what happened earlier…"

Seto's face hardened to an angry glare.

"Yet even in your sleep, you can fight it off?" he challenged her theory, unconvinced. "Some magic, your father must have."

"Fine, then!" Cecelia turned away from him furiously, snuggling into her pillows. "If you don't want to believe me, that's fine. When it happens to you, you'll understand. I'm sorry for waking you."

Seto continued to glare down at her sadly, then laid down beside her. From her side of the bed, she questioned his actions to herself silently. He stared at the back of her head, trying to doze off but couldn't manage to fall back asleep.

"I'm staying over here with you in case this happens again." Seto explained himself out of boredom. "I promise I won't try to do anything stupid while you're sleeping."

"Um, thank you." She said anxiously. "I trust you. Good night."

. . .

As the sun rose the next morning, Cecelia was eased awake by the sound of Seto's voice, along with a strange rocking motion.

"Hey," Seto was rocking her carefully. "Come on, we need to get up. I want to get my brother back."

Moaning faintly as she stirred awake, her gaze was greeted by a depressed face on her friend. Frowning at the sight, she sat up to meet his level, pushing her messed up hair out of her face irritably.

"I think we should get some food into us first…" Cecelia pointed out in concern. "This is not a day to be getting tired quickly."

He turned away from her and pouted at the edge of the bed miserably.

"I'm not hungry." He told her flatly. "I want to get this mess out of the way so I can go home."

Somewhat hurt by his remark, she could feel herself tearing up with light stinging in her eyes. Nodding in acknowledgement, she got up, grabbed a new dress from her large closet without even looking to see what it was, then hid behind her changing wall to freshen up as quickly as possible.

'I understand that Kaiba is desperate to get Mokuba back,' Cecelia thought rationally while running her wooden hairbrush through her hair to tidy it up 'That's what brothers are for, to help each other out…But as much as I know Seto can do it, he needs to be very careful in the process and when I try to warn him of what's to come, he doesn't believe me…" she quickly separated her hair into three parts and arranged it intricately into a tight and uniformly even braid, then tied it off with a hairtie and stepped out from behind the wall, wearing a new dark navy dress that extended down to her knees modestly. Upon noticing she had changed her look, Seto smiled in approval.

"You look great as always." He complimented dully, causing her to blush slightly. "Now then, we need to think of a plan."

"Right." Cecelia responded firmly. "First, we need to find Yugi Mutoh, because that seems to be what my father wants most of all." She crossed her arms to think "Tell me, is there anything valuable that you can think of that my father could possibly want? I really don't understand why this guy is so important…"

"You and your father are rich," Seto went on "So I have no clue. But seeing as though you were talking about those Millennium Item things, I suppose it would be notable that Yugi has one. Chances are, he just wants a new opponent."

Cecelia clapped her hands together cheerfully.

"Yes! That's good!" Cecelia encouraged him eagerly. "Tell me more, uh, do you have an idea of what it looks like?"

Seto's eyes widened, dumbfounded by the idea of her interest in such things.

"It's a puzzle, I guess, what does it matter?" he challenged back stubbornly. "I don't see why you're so caught up in these old artifacts."

Still angered at his opposition, she shrugged her shoulders to push it aside lightly.

"I have my reasons, I guess." She continued confidently. "That aside, are you confident that you can do this, Seto? I'm here to help you, if you would let me."

Seto froze in realization.

'Is that what's going on?' he thought to himself skeptically. 'She doesn't think I trust her because I didn't believe her story…'

"I'm as confident as I'll get, I guess." Seto replied uneasily, a concerned look on his face. "I'm not one that asks for favours, but I would definitely appreciate it if you would help me through this, Cecelia."

Her face lightened up, along with her spirits. He held his hand out to her to draw her closer. As she proceed nearer, a calm smile appeared back on his face and he reached his hand behind her to play with her long braid, pulling it over her shoulder and over her chest. "You're my friend, Cecelia, I may not see eye to eye with you on that story, but that doesn't mean that I don't trust you. Now then, let's go!"

"Right!" Cecelia chanted affirmatively, then headed out of her suite hastily, with Seto not following far behind.

. . .

At the head of the castle, Yugi and his group of friends had advanced through the courtyard and at the bottom of a huge staircase that led to the main entrance, ready to head inside, yet Yugi seemed to be zoned out in some sort of trance. Mai Valentine, a new friend of theirs who had also recently qualified to move on to the finals of Pegasus' tournament, had tagged along with them and noticed that Yugi didn't seem like himself at all.

"Yugi, come on, we're inches away from the castle doors!" Mai had shouted at him in attempt to shake his trance unsuccessfully. "We're not going ahead without you! Snap out of it!"

From the distance, the bunch of them had heard shouting. They looked around to see the famous Cecelia Pegasus strolling through the courtyard leisurely behind them, receiving looks from several duelists nearby.

"Hey, isn't she the daughter of Pegasus?" Mai had spoken up again intriguingly, watching as Cecelia had bent over to smell a bunch of roses in a nearby bush. "What's she doing out here? The poor girl will be swamped with publicity…"

They all turned around to take a look, both Joey and Tristan's face flushing red instantly at the sight of her

"Well, I dunno about _you_ guys," Joey joined in cockily. "But _I'm _gonna make a move on her while I can!"

From another direction, Seto had entered the scene unnoticed, while Cecelia had shifted her glance ever so slightly to keep an eye on what was happening near Seto.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Wheeler," he taunted lowly down to the group. "I don't think a scrappy guy like you would ever end up with such a high-class woman like Cecelia Pegasus."

They all turned around, too familiar with Seto Kaiba's voice behind them.

"Meh, what do ya want, Kaiba?" Joey countered defensively. "It's not like you could do any better with your smug attitude!"

"Then I guess you're in for a rude awakening." Seto shot back cockily. "My personal life is none of your business, Wheeler, now enough talk. Yugi, I challenge you to a-"

The instant he had shifted his line of sight back to Cecelia, he could see that she was knelt over on the ground, hands clasped to her head as if she was fighting off some sort of pain. 'Damn, she wasn't expecting to be attacked at a time like this…'

"Hey, what's the deal?" Tristan teased alongside Joey, grinning victoriously. "Blank out or something?"

'I can't just stand here, Cecelia's being attacked!' Seto thought frantically.

"No!" he shouted ambiguously, running down the long flight of stairs over to Cecelia as quickly as possible, kneeling down beside her in the courtyard just a few seconds later. "Cecelia, don't give in!"

The rest of the group rushed over after him once they saw what was happening to her.

"Father!" she growled then shouted to the air as loud as she could. "Get out of my head!" she threw her head to one side uncontrollably.

"Cecelia, what's happening to you?!" Seto asked her nervously. "Please, talk to me! Whatever it is, fight it off, I know you know how!"

"Seto, do you know what's going on?" Yugi had finally spoken up, managing to break out of his strange zone when he saw that Lady Pegasus was in trouble and ran over after the rest of the group. "Is this normal?!"

"No, it's not." Seto answered angrily. A grudge quickly forming against her father, he shot up from where he knelt on the ground furiously, hands fisted to contain himself with a great deal of effort. "Pegasus!" he bellowed to whoever could hear him lividly. "What kind of parent harms his only child, his own flesh and blood?!"

"Seto, please!" Cecelia cried out forcibly, straining herself vigorously. "Do what you have to do without me! I'll catch up…"

With the last amount of energy spent on convincing Seto to carry on alone, she fainted lifelessly over on her side, with Seto catching her before she had made serious contact with the ground, leaving him scared, confused, and worried for her safety.


	7. Slightly Too Far

**A.N:** Sorry for taking so long again, I'm still dealing with quite a bit of stress. Also, I know that this isn't my best chapter so far, but please stick around, as this is just the beginning of the fic and these intro chapters aren't very thrilling for me to write until I get to the fun stuff…

Chapter Seven

"Damn it!" Seto cursed under his breath, back on the ground underneath of her to hold her up so she wouldn't hit the ground carefully, then picked her up with minimal effort, surprised she was so light. He turned to face Yugi and the rest of his group angrily, staring down Joey with a sadistic smirk. "Happy, Wheeler?" he snapped at Joey. "Looks like your little date with Cecelia just expired."

Joey growled through his teeth.

"Hey, it's not like it mattered!" Joey shot back. "It seems to me like it's _you _who wanted a date!"

Seto remained quiet out of spite.

"Let's go, Kaiba," Yugi broke through the fight effortlessly. "We need to save Miss Pegasus."

"And Mokuba." Seto finished dully, catching everyone's attention immediately.

"What?" Yugi continued as the group proceeded inside the castle eerily. "Pegasus has your brother, too?"

"That's the only reason I had intended to come to Pegasus' island, that's correct." Seto replied lowly. "I don't need to waste my time in this silly tournament, I'm the World Champion." He adjusted Cecelia in his arms gently. "And then stuff happened with Cecelia and now I'm in this mess on top of it. I'm going to bring her back to her room, then I can focus on other important things…"

"Wait, how do you know where her room is?" Tristan asked suspiciously. "Have you known her for a while?" he raised an eyebrow slyly.

'Those two slime balls are going crazy over Cecelia, it's disgusting…' Seto thought with a tiny shudder. 'This may be a bad idea…'

"Yes, I've known her for years, you sick little boys," Seto barked down at them proudly and confidently. "She's my girlfriend." He turned his cocky grin into a snarl, everyone's eyes widened in intense shock, backing away from him in fright. "And if you even _try_ to put your filthy hands on her, you're going to be dealing with me."

Tristan and Joey looked at each other in disbelief, then burst out into laughter, with Seto staring them down with a death glare.

"You hearin' this, man?!" Joey teased hysterically. "Dude, can you actually believe that Kaiba's got a girlfriend?"

Tristan snickered back.

"Nah, man, no way is he talking truth here." Tristan boasted. "Who'd wanna be with this egotistic maniac-"

"Would you cut it out already?!" Kaiba snapped impatiently. "I have bigger fish to fry! I guess I'll see your ugly mugs later-"

"Wait, Kaiba." Yugi spoke up. "If Pegasus has both Cecelia and Mokuba, we can't waste any more time taking detours…You want a duel, let's go, then."

"I'm way ahead of you." Kaiba finished firmly, then the group took off to find a good place to duel, with Seto clutching Cecelia tightly in his arms.

. . .

From up in his own personal suite, which had a fairly clear view of the castle's entrance, Maxmillion Pegasus retreated from his balcony, hateful of what he had just done and sat down at his huge grand piano sadly, resting his chin in his right hand which he propped off to the far side of the piano.

'I really don't enjoy hurting Cecelia…' he thought to himself, distraught, letting out a heavy sigh. 'But I can't afford to have her ruining my plans…What Kaiba doesn't know is that I just overwhelmed her mind a little bit and forced her to sleep for a while, so he can enjoy her presence while he's got an eye on her…' he strode over to a large portrait of his daughter as a little girl, remembering the day it was painted briefly.

A young little lady was huffing and puffing in her chair, yet staying perfectly still for her father, who was painting away at a decently sized canvas happily.

"Father," she spoke out in a cute little voice. "How much longer do I have to sit like this? I want to go outside…"

He peeked over the side of the canvas to see her becoming slightly agitated.

"Not much longer, sweetheart, I'm almost done." He told her soothingly. "Have you kept up on your studies?"

Cecelia showed him a bright smile of pride.

"Yes," she beamed cheerfully. "I'm ahead by nine chapters! So, can I go out and play for a while?"

"Only for a little while, dear." He answered her firmly. "You may be ahead a little bit, but just think of how far you could be if you didn't take breaks to play outside!"

"But, I can't just read and do nothing else, Father," she moaned sadly. "That's no fun…"

"You say that now, dear," Maxmillion defended in a somewhat harsh tone. "But just wait until you get your degree in something."

Little Cecelia wanted to frown in disappointment.

"Yes, Father.." she finished finally, then held back tears as she continued to sit still as he painted her.

Coming back to present day reality, Maxmillion Pegasus was staring down at the black and white keys, almost ashamed of himself for making her study so hard then dropped the idea completely.

"Cecelia doesn't realize that the reason I've been so hard on her is because I'm looking out for her best interests…It's really for her own good, and I wish I could just explain my intentions to her but she would never give in…"

. . .

Now on the roof of a portion of the estate, the group came to a stop, where Seto had placed Cecelia down carefully in a sit-up position against the ledge of a nearby wall that edged the platform intricately.

"Hey, Tea," Yugi spoke out of the silence, eyeing Cecelia slightly. "Could you keep a close eye on Cecelia for us?"

Tea nodded affirmatively.

"Yeah, of course!" Tea agreed to right away. "A lady of such high class really needs to be kept safe."

Joey grinned devilishly, knowing he could use Cecelia as a weakness to Seto's mental defenses now.

"Yeah, and _we'll_ watch out for her too!" Joey teased Seto jokingly while he eyes her midriff quickly.

"You touch her and you'll be _dead_." Seto threatened Joey sharply in response, shaking his head in disgust. "Yugi, I really don't know how you put up with Wheeler so easily, he makes me _ill._" He shifted his glance to Cecelia who seemed to be resting somewhat peacefully, hoping that she wasn't enduring the same torture that his brother was going through.

"Nah, _you're _just jealous 'cause it ain't you watching over your supposed 'girlfriend'." Joey continued cockily, making Seto go red in the face with fury. He growled under his breath angrily.

'As much as I hate to lose a fight, Wheeler's right on this one, sort of.' He thought to himself to continue to keep cool. 'I may have used the word 'girlfriend' to hold these two off from drooling over the poor girl, not like it mattered much, though…Hang in there, Cecelia, this will be over soon enough…'

"Yeah, well, she's mine and you had better remember it!" Seto defended himself poorly. "You can look but if you try to touch her, you'll be dealing with me first-hand!"

"Gosh, Kaiba," Yugi cut in between the argument kindly. "She must really mean a lot to you!"

"She does." Seto admitted truthfully. "And I'm not going to sit here and duel while those two are staring her up and down, either, so let's get this over with!"

"Alright, let's go!"


	8. Progression

**A.N: **After a long break yet again, I've come back to working on this since I've noticed some people are still reading this even though I haven't published in a fair bit. I would love some reviews, I'm not sure if I have any for this fic yet, but I like criticism! Anyways, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it.****

Chapter Eight

After the sun had begun to set for the day, the soft orange glow of the sky leaving its mark on everything in its wake, Seto and Yugi had been deep into their sudden yet circumstantial duel. While the two of were deep in focus towards each other with a great deal of stress, more from Seto's side, the remaining portion of the group watched carefully over Cecelia to try and detect any level of consciousness while she snoozed steadily. Joey and Tristan watched over her sympathetically, as she somewhat reminded them of a sleeping princess with her peaceful sleeping and being in a rather formal attire compared to what the two of them would be found in on a normal day. The thought of Joey and Tristan watching over her concerned Seto slightly, which caused him to glance over at her occasionally with a feeling of guilt growing on him, every time he would snap his mind back into the depths of the duel he had brought upon himself willingly.

'This is becoming too close for me to call the shots anymore…' Seto thought anxiously to himself, too restless to focus on specifics at the moment. 'I need to beat Yugi to get Mokuba back and I need to stay safe to protect Cecelia, and given the fact that I'm backed into a corner right now, I might as well go with it.'  
>After he concluded the thought, Seto had backed away from the duel slightly and climbed up onto the ledge of the castle wall, right on the corner on which two walls had joined below him. He looked behind him carefully, somewhat overwhelmed by how far up he was standing. He closed his eyes to try and take his mind off of it for the time being while Yugi watched him from the distance frightfully.<br>"Kaiba, what are you doing?!" Yugi called to him cautiously. "Please, don't jump!"  
>"I have to save Mokuba, Yugi!" Seto shouted defensively while being sadly honest. 'I can't believe I'm actually doing this, how pathetic.' He thought to himself shamefully as he backed onto the edge of the castle wall. "If you take another shot on me, I'm done for anyways." He looked down at the ground below him, a long way down for him to jump. "And if I can't save my little brother, I don't think I could live with myself. The same goes for Cecelia. I'm going to force your hand, Yugi. If you have the guts to carry out your next move, so be it."<br>'Seto's bond with Mokuba is the strongest I've ever seen,' Yugi thought sympathetically for Seto, staring straight into his eyes as he stood along the edge of the castle with a great deal of sadness and a strange feeling of determination. 'And I don't know if he cares for Cecelia as much as he says he does, but I'm guessing he would do the same for her if he really loved her.' He pondered the concept carefully, thinking of how Kaiba might have been thinking at the moment. 'Giving up isn't something Seto enjoys doing at all, in fact he hates it. He's desperate here.'  
>"I never back down and I won't do so now, Kaiba!" Yugi called out to him again finally, "Celtic Guardian, attack Seto's Blue Eyes White Dragon to take out his life points!"<p>

Tea watched in horror as she saw Yugi carry out the last move. 'What is he thinking?! Yugi would never do such a thing!' she thought immediately, got up and ran into the middle of the playing field.

"Yugi, don't do this!" she shrieked out to him, arms spread out in front of him. "What's gotten into you?!"

"Celtic Guardian, stop!" Yugi shouted out, right before his monster had made his attack on Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon, which had slowly been rotting to a gross goop on the floor of the field. "I end my turn…"

Seto gave a small grin, then decided to take his turn to finish Yugi's life points off by attacking with his Blue Eyes White Dragon with the small amount of muster it had left.

"If you did what needed to be done, it would be you going into the castle, not me. Sorry it had to end like this." He said as he took some star chips from Yugi. He sneered as he walked back over to the group of Yugi's friends who were looking up at him, embarrassed and humiliated. He kneeled down to scoop up Cecelia gently. "Thanks for looking after her." He told the group without looking at any of them in particular, then stood back up slowly as he carried Cecelia in his arms. He headed towards an exit without turning back to look at anyone, then stopped in his path.

"Forgive me, Yugi." Seto spoke to the air, still not turning to face Yugi as he spoke. "We'll have a good match someday."

He adjusted Cecelia in his arms slightly, awaiting a response before he carried on. He nudged her head slightly with his chin affectionately, a soft and tingly feeling surging through him as he did so.

"You better take care of Miss Pegasus, Kaiba." Tea said dully. "If you care for her as much as you say you do, make sure she gets better, and get Mokuba back, too."

"I plan to." Seto responded finally and firmly, then left the rooftop to escort Cecelia back to her suite.

. . .

"Well _that _was interesting." Maxmillion remarked after watching the conclusion of the duel between Seto and Yugi from the balcony of his own personal suite. "Risking his own life for his brother's safety was quite a gutsy move on his part! Leave it to Kaiba to put on a good show for the audience."

He continued to chuckle slightly until one of his security officials peered over him anxiously.

"But sir," he spoke up curiously "What about Kaiba pretending to be in a relationship with Mistress Cecelia? You don't take concern to that?"

Maxmillion laughed heartily at the thought.

"My dear friend, you make a good point!" He continued on in awe. "For all I care, Kaiba can say whatever he wants! He could fall in love with my beautiful daughter as much as he pleases, I won't stop him. After all, it's _her _heart he needs to win over, not mine." He crossed his arms confidently with a smirk. "I know my little girl so well that I can easily tell you that Cecelia has never given into any man's desires for her to this very day, and she's a lot harder to budge than you think."

His smirk then diminished, turning into a small frown as he pondered the idea more.

"I'll be honest and say if there's any man she does fall for, it would be Seto Kaiba…The two have been good friends for quite some time now." He finished with a sigh, remembering how he and his wife came to be in their relationship.

"Uh sir," the same security man spoke up. "I suppose now would be a good time that Mistress Cecelia had attempted to rescue the younger Kaiba earlier." He looked off into the distance. "It was never confirmed as to what she was doing down in the dungeons until recently, sir."

"Well that explains why I caught her down there." Pegasus sighed again sadly. "A real shame too, she had just set eyes on her dear friend for the first time in what…four years? My word, does the time fly…"

Another security officer barged into the room from inside his suite, causing him to shift his gaze slightly while he took another sip of his red wine.

"Master Pegasus, sir!" he had shouted out into the empty suite, then ran over to the doorway to the balcony. "Seto Kaiba has entered the-"

"I know." Maxmillion interrupted sharply. "Let him."

"Y-yes, uh, sir." The man whimpered fearfully as Maxmillion got up from his chair.

"I guess it's time to take my mark." He said finally, took the remaining wine from his glass in one large and final swig, then left his suite and went for a walk, recalling the statement he made not long before.

'If my little Cecelia does end up in love with Kaiba,' he thought sadly, thinking of what would happen if the two were separated again 'Stopping her from seeing the boy would crush her and she would hate me for the rest of her life, not to mention she seems upset with me as it is…' he sighed heavily as he strode down the halls gracefully. 'However, not doing anything to stop what is going on now isn't going to achieve my end goals, what do I do?'

. . .

Now easily recovering the Star Chips that he had given Kaiba to get into the castle earlier from other duelists, Yugi had entered the castle himself without interference along with Tea, Bakura, whom they had found along the way, Joey, and Tristan.

"Aw man!" Joey whined, still in a fit over Kaiba's recent reveal. "I still can't believe a guy like Kaiba ended up with such a gorgeous gal like Cecelia Pegasus! This just ain't fair!"

"Tell me about it, bro," Tristan chimed in, disappointed. "He better be treating her well."

"Dude, Kaiba's rich." Joey added, irritated at the thought of things at this point. "He's probably spoiling her like crazy, if what Kaiba said was actually true, that is."

"You guys are going at this all wrong!" Tea jumped in sharply. "Cecelia's rich too, remember?"

They both nodded quietly, attentive.

"So it doesn't matter what money can buy, if she wanted something, she could easily get it herself." Tea continued as-a-matter-of-factly, holding a finger up informatively. "I don't know for sure, but something tells me that Kaiba can be a real gentleman if he wanted to be. Look how good of a brother he is for Mokuba! He's got a soft spot, trust me on that."

"Hey look!" Bakura spoke up suddenly, pointing at a familiar girl down the hall from them, strolling the castle elegantly. "It's Mai!"

Hearing the shouting from down the hall, the girl turned to face them with a flirty smile and a wave.

"Oh hi, fellas!" she called over to them, approaching them in a friendly manner. "I should have guessed you guys would make it into the finals as well. So," she eyed Joey with a sly grin on her face again "You excited to duel with the girl behind it all or what?" she waggled an eyebrow at him, expecting an exciting reaction out of him, only to receive a frown of disapproval.

"Nyeh, don't even mention it." He moaned in annoyance. Mai leaned over towards Yugi, confused as to why joey seemed so out of character.

"Hey, what's up with Joey?" she whispered in his ear, Yugi listening carefully. "Normally you just gotta mention a beautiful girl and he goes head over heels for her, he doesn't seem like himself."

Joey growled angrily, turning away from the group, pouting stubbornly.

"I can still hear you, ya know!" Joey snapped. "And no, I'm not as excited to duel Pegasus now as I was before. Turns out she's taken."

Mai squealed girlishly in excitement.

"Oooh, gossip, huh?" she turned towards Joey again, eyes wide with attention. "So, who's the lucky guy?"

"Uh," Bakura spoke out unsurely before Joey could speak. "I don't think it's wise to spread rumours just yet, guys,"

Everyone looked at him for him to say more on the subject. Bakura's face went red with all the pressure the starts had been giving him.

"I don't mean to make wrongful accusations or anything," he exhaled greatly and went on shyly. "But did none of you catch that he could have just been protecting her from unnecessary attention, or that he does want to be with her but they aren't in an actual relationship? He could have just been protecting her as a friend."

"Yeah, maybe." Tristan followed up, trying to think from Kaiba's perspective then gave up almost immediately. "It's not surprising that she could have hundreds of rich guys after her, but hey, she's still up for grabs if she's not in a relationship so of course guys are gonna flirt with her!"

"Cecelia's not dumb, Taylor." Mai told Tristan sharply. "Cecelia Pegasus is one tough cookie! She may appear cute and innocent on the outside because she doesn't need people getting the wrong idea about her, the girl is incredibly smart and she can fend for herself quite easily. She could handle a hundred rich guys after her just as easily as a highschool girl can deal with a handful, it doesn't faze her." She crossed her arms proudly as she spoke with confidence. "If there was a rating for women, she'd be at the top of the charts."

Joey chuckled, feeling better already.

"Man, coming from you, it must be a big deal," he edged on slyly "It takes some major guts for you to say someone's actually better than you!" he broke out into laughter, causing Mai to start growling angrily

"Do you have any idea who we're talking about here?!" Mai barked back at him furiously. "If this girl isn't a celebrity, she's practically royalty in the aristocratic world! You need to get some brains, Wheeler!"

"Can we try doing what we came here for, guys?" Yugi slid back into the conversation smoothly. "We're getting a little bit sidetracked by a girl, can we snap out of it?"

Mai backed off of Joey and pouted quietly, and the group of them nodded affirmatively, then carried on down the corridor. 


	9. Confessions

"Do you have any idea who we're talking about here?!" Mai barked back at him furiously. "If this girl isn't a celebrity, she's practically royalty in the aristocratic world! You need to get some brains, Wheeler!"

"Can we try doing what we came here for, guys?" Yugi slid back into the conversation smoothly. "We're getting a little bit sidetracked by a girl, can we snap out of it?"

Mai backed off of Joey and pouted quietly, and the group of them nodded affirmatively, then carried on down the corridor.

Walking down the corridors towards Cecelia's room to set her down in bed while carrying her carefully in his arms, Seto was able to hear shouting from down the hall. He looked to his left to see the too familiar group of nitwits heading towards him. He let out a heavy sigh of exasperation and stopped in his tracks.

"Well if it isn't you guys again." Seto's voice lingered through the wide open halls strangely. The entire group continued to approach him steadily, paying a deal of attention to Cecelia who still sat helplessly cradled in his arms. Mai's eyes widened at the sight of seeing Cecelia motionless with Kaiba, suddenly feeling concerned for her considering who she had been being carried by.

"Still haven't found Pegasus, huh?" Joey dug back at Kaiba pointlessly, pointing a finger at him. "Or are you just killing time with your _girlfriend_?" he sneered.

"Watch your tone, Wheeler, or you'll be my next victim." Seto shot back, clutching onto Cecelia tightly now. Mai swung a hip to one side and rested her hand there.

"If you don't mind me asking Kaiba," Mai spoke up curiously with a small bit of suspicion "What exactly happened to Lady Pegasus that led you to bringing her around the castle in a princess carry?" she raised an eyebrow at him cautiously.

"Good question." Seto responded firmly, not really caring about hanging around the group at all. "I'm still trying to figure that out myself."

Bakura stepped forward from amidst the group of his friends and approached Seto steadily, not intending to do any harm.  
>"May I?" he asked, making a quick gesture to Cecelia in Seto's protective clutch. Seto didn't understand what he was going to do but gave a firm nod. Bakura had placed an ear to Cecelia's heart to hear a gentle, moderate pulse resonate within her. He tried his hardest to ignore the fact that he had been somewhat smothered by her seemingly large breasts as he listened for a short amount of time, then backed away quickly. "She appears to be sleeping calmly." He told everyone around him. "She doesn't seem too disturbed. She must have just passed out or have been forced into a sleep."<p>

"That's weird," Tristan spoke out as well, holding up a finger as a matter-of-factly. "Before she got like this, she looked like she was spazzing out or something, like she was under some kind of creepy mind control."

Cecelia managed a groan of some sort, startling the group. She had attempted to stir in Seto's hold, but unable to move freely she cuddled into Seto's chest unknowingly, making Seto blush heavily.

"The…eye…" she had managed to say in a grumbled voice. "Father's…eye…"

"Well that confirms it," Joey remarked confidently "She's still with us."

"That's it!" Yugi blurted out after a short thought. "Pegasus' Millennium Eye! He must have tapped into Cecelia's mind and put her out! She might know about it a bit and was trying to fight it off…"

"Eye?" Kaiba sneered at Yugi, despite hearing of something similar from Cecelia the night before and thought she may be a bit mental. "What could Pegasus' _eyes_ do to Cecelia? Stop being stupid."

"Well, you see, Kaiba," Bakura began to explain kindly, regardless of Seto's attitude. "Much like Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, Maxmillion Pegasus has something called the Millennium Eye, another unique artifact from the same collection." He felt Kaiba's stare on him growing more intense as he spoke and shifted his glance away from him anxiously. "It could be possible that that item possesses some kind of special power."

Kaiba let out an obnoxious laugh to refute the idea immediately.

"That's a cute little story you have going," Seto teased arrogantly "But I'm not convinced. Anyways, I need to bring Cecelia to her room so she can get some proper rest and then find her father to get my brother back."

Immediately after, he dismissed himself from the group and continued to head to Cecelia's room. Feeling his arms start to burn from holding her without a break, he looked over his shoulder to check his distance with the rest of the group, to find them nowhere in sight. He exhaled in relief, then sat down with Cecelia in his lap to take a break. 'Artifacts with magical powers?' he thought humourously. 'Please. This isn't some kind of fairy tale.' He looked down at Cecelia awkwardly as she continued to sleep comfortably in his shoulder, her hair somewhat messed up from earlier after nuzzling against him occasionally as he carried her as well as her makeup had smudged ever so slightly. He smiled down at her, finding the moment strangely cute and attempted to fix some strands of her thick blond hair.

'She's definitely grown up a lot,' he thought remarkably, getting a closer look as he closed in on her face some more 'So…pretty…' he paused his thoughts abruptly and tried to think about something else, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one else was around. 'As hard as it may be, I can't get distracted from my main goal here.'

Just then, Cecelia shifted in his lap and leaned towards him more and snuggled into his shoulder, moaning irritably as if suddenly fighting off a bad dream.

"No…" he had easily heard her say uncomfortably but clearly "Not Seto, leave him alone…father…"

Seto nearly jumped at the sound of his name and blushed profusely.

"She's-" he told himself in an estranged whisper "Dreaming about me…"

He shifted around on the floor to sit her up against the wall beside him while carefully keeping an arm around her, curious to see if it would continue.

"Hey, it's alright." He told her in a sweet, calm tone. "I'm here for you, Cecelia…"

She squirmed in place lightly, her facial expressions returning to a relaxed state. He looked over at her, a little disappointed as he had hoped she would react differently, and watched as she went back to a peaceful sleep. He wished he knew how to help her through whatever it was that was going on in her head at that moment, feeling useless beside her. He pulled her closer and stroked her hair smoothly, quickly growing restless as he'd never been so close to her, or at least not for a long time. He was smitten for her, he knew he was, but he could never bring himself to telling her.

'I should probably get her to bed now.' He thought finally after he couldn't stand his heart racing any more from the pressure between them. He got up from the clean floor of the hallway, holding an arm out to ensure Cecelia wouldn't fall over as he leaned her up against the wall so he could stand up, then scooped her back up into his protective clutch again. He proceeded back to her massive suite like he had always done in the past, remembering his way perfectly. As he approached the door, he stood Cecelia up cautiously so he could turn the long, brass doorknob for a split second, then picked her back up and brought her inside.

He had been welcomed back by the slight scent of paper and books, as if he were in an old library filled with books and papyrus that aged over a century. He particularly enjoyed the smell of Cecelia's room, as he felt it carried the scent of knowledge and Cecelia's extreme dedication to her studies. The same familiarity of being in her room had suddenly made him curious to check something he had thought about for ages. He walked over to the corner of her room that he had known was her study area, letting his eyes wander in hopes to find the thing he was looking for. To his surprise, he had found it sitting neatly on her desk, staring him in the face intensely as his curiousity burned through him, a black soft leatherette journal with Cecelia's name embossed in the bottom right hand corner of the cover in gold, which, to his satisfaction, was done in his very own handwriting. On top of the book was an expensive looking fountain pen that sat in a perfect diagonal across the cover of the journal.

'So she does still have it.' He thought warmly, unaware that he had been smiling gently upon discovering the book on the desk. Hesitating to take his eyes off of it for a few seconds, he rushed over to Cecelia's four poster bed and set her down on the soft mattress. He grabbed the silver blankets from underneath of her somewhat rigorously and proceeded to tuck her in with care. As if in response, Cecelia rolled onto her side to face him as he pulled the blankets up to her face. He watched over her dreamily for a moment, remembered about the journal, the pressure from his growing curiosity back to haunt his mind.

'I really shouldn't read her stuff, she might have used it as a diary…' he had thought, the idea of it being Cecelia's diary only making him stay away from it being an even harder decision to make. Unable to keep himself away from it, he scurried back over to the desk to read it. He knew that even the slightest chance of the book that he had found might be the diary of the girl he knew he had feelings for would only make his temptations to make good use of the opportunity grow larger.

Now in front of her desk, he looked down at the journal nervously, now having second thoughts about picking it up to read it. Now feeling a trickle of sweat down the side of his head in anticipation, he knew he couldn't stop himself and picked up the journal after carefully setting down the fountain pen that sat on top of it down on the desk. He then sat down in her desk chair, which was left pulled out conveniently for him to sit down without making any noise from having to move it, opened the journal to the front page, to be welcomed by Cecelia's neat and tidy longhand written in a dark but elegant purple ink. The top of the page had been dated to shortly over four years ago, the night of her sixteenth birthday which he remembered almost flawlessly. He started to peer through the words carefully.

_Today I was gifted this beautiful pen and journal by Seto. Thinking of everything I've received today, it's not a hard decision for me to say that I love these gifts the most. I can't put my finger on what exactly it was that made the choice for me, but there was a great deal of thought that went behind these gifts. I'm unsure of what to write for my first post, haha…_

_I think it's probably best for me to come to terms with it sooner than later, but I'm almost certain that I have feelings for Seto Kaiba._

'Wait, _what?_!" Seto had to do everything in his power not to shout out loud. 'She has feelings for me too?! This can't be that easy, it _has _to be too good to be true.' He began to read further.

_I don't really know what has caused me to feel this way about him, but whenever he visits me, it gives me such a warm and gentle feeling, and I get so excited. When we first met and he randomly kissed my hand after our chess match, it gave me the most otherworldly feeling, even though it had been only our first encounter. And then when he pulled me aside to go for a walk tonight, I got so nervous…And then when he asked me for another dance on the balcony, good Lord I thought I was in a dream…_

'Oh my god.' Seto thought frantically to himself, unsure of what to do with this newly acquired information. 'She likes me. No, she _loves _me. I never thought I'd see it happen…' something had jabbed at him quickly, it felt like a brick wall to his sudden excitement. 'Wait a second, this was four years ago. What about now…'

He flipped through the journal some more to find the most recent entry that had been written. About halfway through the journal, he had found where the ink stopped hitting the paper, traced back a few pages to find the date on the page, to find one dated just six days ago. He noticed her cursive had become more refined since the first passage he read. He quickly admired it then began to read again.

_Sometimes I wonder if people still think of me…My father seems to have forgotten I exist these days. We don't ever share a meal, we don't talk to each other, does he care? I'm not allowed to so anything but study, but would he notice if I had stopped? I suppose with that strange eye he has, he might…Even if I did put my studies on hold, what else would I do?_

_I miss Seto so much…I feel like he's forgotten about me now, it's been four years since I've seen him. I wrote to him on some of the stationery he had gifted me but I never got a response, I don't know what to think of it. It breaks my heart really, since I know I still think about him so much and my feelings haven't gone away even though we haven't spoken to each other in a while. What I would do to see him again, but how would I go about it? He's probably tall and attractive now, the thought itself makes me hot to the touch-_

'Yup, that confirms it.' Seto closed the book finally, now satisfied with everything he'd read, still in shock. 'What are the odds that we happen to secretly love each other?' he shifted his gaze back over to Cecelia, who seemed to be quite comfortable in bed, placed the journal back on the desk and placing the pen back on top of it as it had been before, and headed over to Cecelia's bed to crawl onto it carefully in an effort not to shake the bed at all. Satisfied with where he was positioned he sat down beside her, took his jacket off and placed it on the floor beside the bed after folding it neatly. He turned on his side to face her, who had comically cocooned herself in large heaps of blankets leaving only her head popping out of them, her lip touching the edge of the blanket as she breathed quietly. He let out a short chuckle as he took her in, his heart seeming to melt slowly as he continued to stare, her hair completely messed up and frizzed all over her pillow and her body curled up tightly despite having massive layers of fabric constricting her.

'My god that's adorable.' He thought to himself awkwardly, laying down beside her, grabbed a pillow nearby and laid down finally. 'I should probably sleep, but I feel wide awake with everything that I just took in.' he let out a heavy sigh, clearing his head and closed his eyes. 'Goodnight Cecelia.' He told her mentally, and slowly drifted into sleep.


	10. Dream in the Making - Part I

**A.N: **Another delay from me as usual, not really surprising anymore. My life has taken a big turn for the better, I've recently gotten myself back into school after an abrupt halt for personal circumstances and I'm really enjoying being back so far and I may have put this on a bit of a back burner until now. Anyways, I've seen a lot of people stopping by which means I'm doing a good job (or something along those lines, can't really pinpoint it). Thanks for staying interested guys! This is one of my favourite portions of the story and I hope you guys enjoy it just as much as I did writing it ^^

Chapter Ten

With the both of them now asleep, Cecelia had finally regained control of her consciousness after a couple irritable hours of tossing and turning. While still sleeping soundly, her dreams had shifted from a moderate nightmare to one of her most common dreams and favourite memories.

It had been a joyful evening. Cecelia's father, Maxmillion Pegasus, had invited a large number of well-known aristocratic families and their children, particularly young sons, to share the presence of his daughter's sixteenth birthday. He had made sure that his and Cecelia's good friends from the Kaiba family would attend as well, knowing that Cecelia would love to see them again after a long five months of going without contact due to business errands, especially Seto.

Seeing to the ballroom as it was being decorated with luxurious purple ribbons and vibrantly hued flowers by some of the caregivers and butlers that worked within the Pegasus family, Maxmillion had assumed that his daughter had already started preparing herself for the party he was throwing for her. He suddenly felt the urge to check up on her to see how she was doing and to ensure she was alright, all the while strutting around the massive ballroom pondering on the thought. Finally making up his mind, he dismissed himself from the room and headed to Cecelia's suite.

Arriving at the top of the stairs that led baroquely up to her personal suite, he stepped up to her tall redwood door that towered above him and knocked loudly on the door. He slightly opened it so he could speak into the room.

"Cecelia, dear," he called out mysteriously into her room. "Is it alright if I come in?"

From the other side of the suite, fifty feet away from the door, Cecelia had heard the faint sound of her father's voice and looked up from her mirror that sat on the corner of a dark coloured wooden vanity, where she had sat brushing her hair calmly while dressed in an extravagant lavender ball gown. She got up from her stool slowly, trying not to trip over the skirt as she stood up and walked cautiously over to her father as he had slipped into her room quietly and stood by the door in wonder.

"Cecelia, darling, is this really you I'm seeing?" he had managed to say in hesitation, scanning her from head to feet. "You look like a princess, let alone my daughter."

Blushing lightly from his reaction, Cecelia giggled, flattered.

"Yes, that was the look I was going for," she joked awkwardly. "I'm not even wearing any makeup yet…" she had let out another laugh modestly, trying to distract herself from the conversation. "But I'm happy to know I look the part for the evening." She curtsied politely to finally greet him, struggling greatly to make sure she didn't fall over, laughing some more. "This dress is going to take some time to get used to, I suppose."

Her father let out a warm, fatherly chuckle.

"Sweetheart, I think you'll be fine." He assured her generously. "There's no rush to get ready, you still have lots of time." He gestured towards the doors behind him. "If you'd like, perhaps we could go for a walk outside so you can get the hang of walking in that gorgeous dress? I could show you a thing or two that might help." As he left the choice open for Cecelia to deice, his gaze shifted to the left of the suite to a wall lined with enormous windows that stretched to the ceiling, dressed in deep red linens, letting in a soft glow of light from the sun that had been setting over the water which surrounded the island where the estate had stood. "The sunset is otherworldly this evening."

"It is." Cecelia responded responsively, beaming with excitement at the thought of finally being allowed to go outside as opposed to staying in her room to study, growing more impatient with herself as she had heard the words utter from her father's mouth. She looked back at her vanity, with everything she had needed to finish up with getting herself ready for later already sprawled out over the surface, pondering her answer for a short moment.

"Father," she proceeded carefully, almost certain she only had one shot at this and the wrong answer might turn the situation. "Do you mind giving me just a few more minutes so I can finish up with myself?" she had spoken in her sweetest tone, already feeling uneasy about what she had said. "I really want to go for the walk, I really do, but I'm almost done getting ready and I might as well just get it finished. I won't be long, I promise." She had nearly begged.

Maxmillion watched her, puzzled as to why she had grown so tense about his offer, coming to the conclusion that because he was normally quite busy with other tasks and clients and didn't have the time to spare and insisted that she keep up in her studies in an attempt to keep her occupied, but not today.

"Go ahead, darling, I'll wait right here for you to finish up." He told her with a kind smile and took a seat on the couch near the windows by her study, holding out a hand as he sat down to help her back over to her vanity stool so she could continue working away at herself with makeup and hair products. Content with the way she had been positioned on the stool finally, she began to work quickly. Her father leaned over the armoire to watch her as she picked up several things to touch herself up with. She picked up her favourite black eyeliner and traced the edges of her eyes intricately in a smooth motion to create a seemingly perfect symmetry between them, feeling her father's stare upon her but only thought lightly of it. She placed the pencil down and switched it out for her mascara.

"Thank you for waiting on me, father." She had commented gratefully as she swiped her lashes with the mascara. "It's not something I'm used to you being able to do, I'm sure you understand why I was a bit uptight about your offer at first." She blinked at herself in the mirror a couple of times.

Maxmillion frowned in guilt.

"Yes, dear, I'm more than aware." He replied sadly, then switched back to a cheery expression to move on past the thought. "I made sure to devote this day to the one and only thing I truly love, my one and only precious daughter."

Now warm to the touch from her father being so sweet, Cecelia had managed a sincere smile and shed a tear unwillingly, which she quickly tended to with a tissue so it wouldn't mess up the work she had just done with her makeup.

"I really appreciate it, father." She continued kindly, switching out the tissue she had been using back to her mascara and ran it through her lashes a few more times over then paused in hesitation, remembering something she had been thinking about a fair deal lately and wasn't sure if she would get a time to present the idea. "Father, may I ask something else of you if it's not too much?"

"Sure." Maxmillion responded, intrigued.

"Well, I was wondering what you would think if I had said I wanted to study music?" she finished up with her mascara as she finished her sentence, then looked over at her father nervously. Maxmillion sat up a bit straighter on the couch attentively as he looked over at her, her eyes having a slightly different definition to them from her makeup, suddenly reminded of her mother and had caught him off guard for a split second.

"M-Music?" he asked, enthused but slightly confused. "On top of your other studies?"

"Um, yes." Cecelia proceeded nervously, glancing away for a second with a slight laugh to ease the tension. "You see, from you teaching me how to play the piano when I was younger…I've been thinking of pursuing it further for a while as I find it enjoyable…Is that okay?" she looked back into his eyes, hopeful. She prayed to herself that he would allow it as Maxmillion remained silent about it to think it over.

"Are you sure it's something you want to do?" he asked her skeptically. She didn't seem to be too alarmed by the fact that it would put more work on her, he had assumed she had already thought it through a good deal and weighed the factors out beforehand. "It seems like it might become a bit heavy on you. I don't want you to overwork yourself."

Cecelia had made a 'so-so' motion with her free hand, glancing into the mirror to make her last check to see if she needed to fix anything.

"My other studies aren't the most difficult," she responded easily "And having something else to do like playing the piano might make my studies a bit more enjoyable and bearable in general."

Maxmillion went silent again to consider her perspective as she looked over at him again to watch for a response eagerly. Her father let out a sigh, a bit impartial on the idea.

An interesting strategy if I do say so myself," he finally responded inquisitively, "I suppose you do take after me a bit, after all. I assume you have already made a plan to act on it, and if not, you have my permission to go ahead and make one."

Getting up off of her vanity stool, the happiest she could remember in a long time, she scurried over to her father on the couch, relieved, and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, thank you, father!" she told him as she bent over to hug him appreciatively "I promise I will keep up with all of my studies!"

Placing a hand on her back to accept her embrace and to make sure she didn't stumble over as he stood up from the couch, he smiled down at her contently.

"You never cease to surprise me, child." He remarked proudly "Shall we go for a walk now? You really do need some practice moving around in this dress, since you'll be doing a good deal of dancing this evening." He joked with her harmlessly in good intention. "You'll find we have a lot of guests attending the party."

"You've gone a far length for this party I imagine," Cecelia giggled as they both proceeded slowly towards the exit of the suite.

"Of course, darling, it's such a celebratory evening," he defended dramatically as they headed out the door to go for their evening stroll.

As they walked through the wide open corridors and outside along the courtyards, the two of them discussed topics addressing the upcoming party and how it would carry on throughout the evening. Along the walk, Cecelia also grew confident that she could move around with ease in her gown after nearly falling on a few different occasions, where her father had caught her before she mad many any hard contacts with the ground and the two of them shared a couple of good laughs over it. Coming back inside after an hour and a half of spending some undivided quality time with each other, Maxmillion had instructed Cecelia to go to a certain room where she would wait as he had opened up the party. As they separated, they shared a sincere hug and Maxmillion assured his daughter that she would do alright during the party, then he proceeded back to the ballroom which had begun to fill up with a large amount of families, all wearing expensive suits with the odd person carrying a gift for Cecelia.

The room had been bustling with casual and pleasant conversation, which Maxmillion found comforting. As a few of the guests had noticed that he had entered the room, some began to gesture towards him and the room slowly fell silent and eventually everyone had been facing him awaiting the start of the celebration. In response, he smiled brightly and gave an enthusiastic bow towards the crowd. A butler nearby had rushed to his side, handed him a small microphone which he then clipped on his suit smoothly. He tilted his head away from the microphone quickly, cleared his throat and carried on.

"Merry meet, my good friends!" he boomed cheerily to the mass of people accompanied by another couple of bows to the corners of the room he may have missed earlier. "I've gathered us all here today to celebrate my wonderful daughter's sixteenth birthday. It is a very special night for her, and I would like her to be warmly welcomed by all of us here as she graces us with her presence in just a few moments."

Gazeburo, along with his stepson, Seto, who had been amongst the crowd attentively listened to Maxmillion eagerly as they awaited seeing Cecelia for the first time after almost three months of no contact, excited as they both carried their gifts humbly.

'I bet she's going to look amazing when she comes out,' Seto had been thinking to himself wishfully, hopelessly growing impatient as his mind began to imagine the dress she would wear pleasantly, the colour purple being the only thing he knew almost certainly. He looked around the room out of the corners of his eyes to distract himself a bit to see a lot of other young men around his age looking rather antsy, some holding roses or bunches of some other vibrant and attractive flower which had slowly made him nervous, the thought of him not having flowers for Cecelia making him paranoid of sending a bad vibe. He reminded himself of what it was he had actually brought to give her as a present alternatively, almost certain that she would like it regardless. 'Calm down, Seto,' he told himself frantically, 'She loves books, whether she's reading or writing in them.' He held his chin up high proudly 'I wonder how many other guys here actually know that, they probably think she's just another rich girl.' He grinned inconspicuously for a moment out of pride, then softened his expression again not to attract attention. 'Maybe she'll write to me so we can keep in touch…'

He continued to try being optimistic about things as he continued to keep himself occupied while Maxmillion Pegasus rambled on pointlessly about Cecelia. He had somehow picked up on a conversation some boys nearby were having about her.

"I heard she's _beautiful,_" one of them with a clearly European accent had been saying charismatically in excitement. Seto tried to pinpoint his origin, concluding it was likely France. "But could you imagine it? That could mean _many _things."

"Well it's not wrong if it's fairly common knowledge." a posh British boy had chimed in. "I've heard that too, you see. I don't think it would be so well known if it wasn't true."

Seto rolled his eyes and detached himself from the conversation. Not realizing that Pegasus had finished his speech just seconds before, he nearly jumped as a small orchestra began to play at the side of the room, assuming it had meant it was finally time for Cecelia to come in. He perked up immediately and corrected his angle to face the grand staircase, where Pegasus had happily taken his place at the foot of the stairs.

'Breathe, Cecelia.' She had been telling herself anxiously as the doors began to open before her. 'Just look forward to seeing Seto, it'll be alright…'

Cecelia strode into the bright crystalline light of the ballroom brilliantly with care, trying her best to hide how nervous she was as she walked, nearly trembling from the sight of the mass of people she had seen anticipating her arrival. She moved comfortably in her dress, approaching the head of the staircase successfully while looking out to the crowd with as bright a smile as she could manage, unable to find Seto from a quick scan of the audience. She stopped for a brief moment to bow to everyone carefully before continuing on.

'Oh my god.'


	11. Dream in the Making - Part II

**A.N: **I'm going to keep the notes short and sweet this time around. This chapter has some French in it, I've put the English translations in brackets beside the respective portions. Also, please leave a review, I see so many viewers coming and going, please tell me what you think!

Chapter Eleven

She stopped for a brief moment to bow to everyone carefully before continuing on.

'Oh my god.' Seto thought as he stared, lost in her appearance, feeling himself heat up intensely while he grew rapidly attracted to her. He bowed responsively along with the crowd with an awkward tenseness. After becoming upright again, he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.

"You alright, boy?" his stepfather teased him heartily. "You look awfully excited." He gave a quick but sharp gaze up to Cecelia then looked back at him.

Seto flushed red immediately.

"O-Of course I am, father." He attempted to brush it off coolly. "Should that be much of a surprise? She's a good friend."

Gazeburo gave him a sly grin, leaning into Seto closely.

"Be the last one to dance with her." He instructed Seto through a harsh whisper, making Seto tense up again. "You won't regret it."  
>Seto nodded affirmatively in silence, his eyes still locked on Cecelia, lost dreamily in thought.<p>

Now at the bottom of the staircase, she approached her father trustfully as he held out his hand to lead her to the middle of the ballroom for the first dance. She followed along with a gentle and polite smile, looking around the room as she walked effortlessly just as rehearsed. Taking their position and slowly beginning to dance, the two of them received stares from awestruck people around the room, making Cecelia feel slightly nauseous, which Maxmillion detected almost instantly.

"Are you nervous?" he asked her sweetly, concerned. "You're doing great, sweetheart."

Cecelia exhaled to try and calm down, continuing the sweeping motions her father had led her through swiftly.

"Oh, uh, thank you, Father." She had managed to say unsteadily. "The stares are just a little intense, that's all, um…Did you see the Kaiba's at all-"

"They're here, don't worry, dear." He chuckled happily, anticipating when she would ask and he eyed them in the crowd easily to give her a sense of where they are, then flung her outwards to let her see as the two of them continued to dance. Twirling in enjoyment as he she went along with his motions, she finally caught eye of Seto and Gazeburo Kaiba in the crowd, who were both watching her with charming smiles on their faces. 'Oh, my word, Seto looks sharp tonight.' She thought hopelessly as she twirled back into her father's arms carefully to make sure her hands connected properly with his.  
>"Excited to see Seto, are you?" her father led her on jovially, suspicious of her feelings towards him.<p>

Cecelia blinked suddenly, off guard as Seto was mentioned, still thinking about him.

"Of course I am!" Cecelia answered confidently. "I always enjoy Seto's presence, this night doesn't need to be any different."

Maxmillion narrowed his eyes on her cheekily.

"Darling, I'm sure you know why I asked." He cooed playfully, raising an eyebrow.

Cecelia blushed slightly, knowing all too well that she was crystal clear when it came to her actions towards Seto.

"Yes, I do." She replied firmly. "However, I'd rather not think about that when there's a hundred other boys around that will ask me to dance." She sighed half-heartedly. "It wouldn't be fair if my mind was busy with someone else."

Maxmillion flung her out once more to finish, still holding hands the two of them bowed to the crowd synchronously as everyone applauded them. After walking her off to the side of the ballroom floor, he turned to her again with a smile.

"You're so kind, dear." He told her charmingly with a fatherly tone. "But I know you will have your chance. Enjoy your evening, Cecelia."

Cecelia concluded with a nod and a smile of appreciation.

"Thank you, Father. You as well."

As her father parted with her and the orchestra still playing onwards, she had already been approached by someone. He was somewhat tall, with dirty blonde hair tossed neatly back, and he had been looking down at her with a gentle expression so she would not be alarmed with some of the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

"Good evening, Lady Pegasus." He had greeted her in an attractive medium-low French-sounding voice. "May I have the honour of being your first dance, aside from your father of course, this evening?"

Cecelia curtsied politely.

"It's quite bold to be so quick about it, I hardly had a moment to catch my breath," she joked with him lightheartedly. "I'd be happy to dance."

The boy took her hand delicately and led her back out to the floor at a generous pace. He bent over slightly, taking her hand up to his lips and kissed it then smiled handsomely, stunning her for a brief moment as she blushed. He got back up and placed his other hand on her waist.

"My word, you are quite charming." Cecelia had told him honestly as he handled her flawlessly as the two of them waltzed around the floor. "It's a pleasure to have such a nice dance partner, uh…"

"Pierre." He finished for her kindly. "I appreciate the words, the pleasure is mine, Miss." He gazed softly down at her, growing infatuated more and more by the second. Cecelia giggled as he rolled his r's slightly. He gave her a quick look of confusion.

"Oh, don't mind me, you have an intriguing accent." She told him honestly, blushing again "Is it French I'm detecting?"

Pierre's smile grew wider at her good nature, a chuckle escaping from his lips

"Why yes," he laughed slightly. "Straight from the heart of Paris, Mademoiselle." He gave her playful wink. "If you ever want to visit me, feel free to let me know." He gave a quick glance over to Maxmillion Pegasus, who had been chatting away with a group of men happily. "Our fathers know each other very well."

"I shall keep that in mind." Cecelia responded flirtatiously as Pierre eased her into a careful dip. "I've always wanted to travel abroad and I appreciate the offer, as well as this dance while we're at it."

Pierre's heart began to race within his chest, but he continued to look into her eyes dreamily, hiding his sudden emotions easily despite the urge to do otherwise.

"Pas de problème." [No problem.] He told her enticingly, helping her back up. "Bonne anniversaire, Mademoiselle Pegasus." [Happy birthday, Miss Pegasus.]

Cecelia giggled at his French.

"Merci beacoup, Monsieur." [Thank you very much, sir.] She followed along, amused, surprising Pierre slightly with wide eyes. She assumed he didn't expect her to know how to speak French, but held a smile proudly. Pierre bowed before her, kissing her hand once more.

"Profitez de votre soirée, Cecelia." [Have a good evening, Cecelia.]

Cecelia bowed responsively, still understanding him with ease.

"Merci, je vais essayer de ma mieux." [Thank you, I will try my best.] She continued to play along, entertained. The two of them shared a laugh for a brief moment, then Pierre had bowed again before her.

"Au revoir, Mademoiselle." He finished with a cheeky smirk, then left her to herself on the ballroom floor with no further conversation, surrounded by what she guessed were couples of parents whose sons were here to meet her. She scanned the room to find numerous boys astray from their parents looking back at her, some had blushed and shied away when her eyes had met theirs and others had looked eager to join her. She noticed Seto walking around Gazeburo to chat with other families, occasionally looking back at her to see what she was up to but hadn't shown the intention to join her just yet. She thought about it for a brief moment, then reached a conclusion almost instantly.

'He wants to be the last dance. I wonder why…' She told herself confidently, then sighed skeptically. 'Very well, this is going to be a long night, it seems.'

She paced around the floor for a few minutes, no one seeming to want to approach her after the dance with Pierre. Was it because he was a really good dancer? Surely someone else had to be brave enough to step out of the crowd, or so Cecelia had thought, but was wrong. 'I'm going to have to approach them, I guess.' She told herself, somewhat irritated. She approached the crowd carefully, attempting to merge in without making too much of a hassle while some of the boys around her froze in place. She turned to the one closest to her, smiling generously to try and look welcoming. He had been around the same height as her, fairly thin and staring at her with a nervous expression. He pointed to himself awkwardly to make sure she was directing her attention to him and she nodded once with a couple bats of an eye to confirm. He ran his hand through his black hair quickly to try and make himself look presentable for her, and bowed. After bowing back to him, she led him to the middle of the ballroom floor slowly.

As they began to dance, she tried to make small talk since she could tell he was very nervous, but she went with it nonetheless, keeping a warm and carefree smile on in an attempt to ease the tension. She had continued to do this with a few other boys after this since it seemed to be a popular trend and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

As the night passed onwards, Cecelia had encountered a vast number of young men, some had been very sweet gentlemen who weren't in a hurry to get her attention and gave her pleasurable dances and conversations, which made her feel more optimistic about the evening ahead instead of thinking she had to probe everyone. Others she wasn't as fortunate with, a fair few being arrogant and self-centered, she noticed they had boasted far too much about themselves as if they were trying to impress her but were unsuccessful. On a few occasions along the way, she encountered some poor boys who just couldn't dance with a girl to save their lives but didn't seem too hung up on the fact and openly admitted that they may not give her a good dance like some of the others, yet managed to carry on engaging and delightful conversations despite Cecelia getting her foot stepped on a number of times.

It had been around 8:30PM when Cecelia had started struggling to find a boy she hadn't seen and danced with already, her thoughts lingering on Seto as she scanned the room continuously. She saw a lot of boys clustered together now, guessing they were probably talking about their experiences with her, some looking like they were going to fall over from hopelessly swooning over it which gave her the suspicion she was the hot topic of the evening. She continued to walk through the crowd, still unable to find someone new to approach, then decided to retreat back to the center of the dance floor and wait patiently by herself. She found herself standing alone for about three whole music pieces and the more she thought about it, she couldn't find Seto amongst the crowd either, which left her thinking what could have happened to him until he finally stepped out of the crowd for her to see. He strode towards her confidently, making sure to breathe steadily as he continued to approach her, naturally smiling in excitement. Cecelia beamed brightly in cheer at the sight of him.

One of the boys eyed the two of them as he was talking to a group of friends he had made at the party and pointed over his shoulder at them nonchalantly.

"They like each other big time." He sneered jealously as the group turned to watch them eagerly.

Now standing with her, Seto took her hand like she had always remembered, delicately bringing it to his lips to kiss despite her always telling him there was no need to, giving her a quick shiver down her spine from the rush of emotions it gave her. Back upright, the two of them locked eyes on each other without a word, unknowingly entranced by each other's stare.

"Long night I'm guessing?" he asked lightly, noticing she looked somewhat tired as he kept his focus on her.

Cecelia chuckled at his advances.

"Very long night." She responded easily. "And it's not close to being done yet."

"I promise I can dance, I swear." He joked, trying to ease her mood a bit.

Cecelia's chuckle turned into a hearty laugh, enlightened by her friend's attempts to cheer her up.

"That's a relief. Care to dance, then?"

"I don't think I'd be standing here for no reason." He shot back humourously with a chuckle himself, sliding his free hand onto her waist smoothly. "It's been a while, huh?"

"Since we've seen each other, yes." She answered sweetly. "I wish you would stop by more often, it gets so boring here, you know?"

"Can't say I'm a stranger to that," Seto replied with a sigh. "But hey, after we're done here, come with me, I have something I wanted to show you."

He took the first step and the two of them began to dance with ease. Going along with his movements, Cecelia continued the conversation.

"Well, I'm assuming after this, Father is going to want to do a toast and start dinner and cake." She responded with a quick unsure frown. "Oh, gosh, and probably presents…" she sighed dreadfully but Seto still held a smile.

"Hey, no worries." He assured her optimistically, continuing to sway around the ballroom floor enjoyably with her. "I can wait, I'll be here for a while still, you know how my father can ramble on in a conversation sometimes." He joked, watching her frown turn into a grin trying to hold in more laughter, dazzling him inside. "If you're not taken up by all the other guys here, maybe we can catch up over dinner? I doubt we'll get a game of Chess in tonight."

"I'll try my best not to be," she answered back as she twirled and took his hand again, which went back around her waist quickly and easily. "You were right, you're probably one of, if not the best dancer I've shared a waltz with this evening."

Seto flushed red at her compliment, massively flattered. Little did she know he practiced a long time for the moment he got this opportunity.

"Really?" he asked, still recovering from the emotional rollercoaster she put him on, suddenly realizing they had been dancing longer than the others. "I mean, that first guy seemed really good too, you looked like you were really enjoying yourself."

"He was quite gentle with me, yes." She thought back to earlier in the evening to her dance with Pierre briefly. "Something tells me he needed to think about what he was doing though. From what I can tell, you don't seem to have to."

"Nah, not really, it's just like Chess for me honestly." He tried to brush it off modestly as he began to slow their dance down along with the music changing its tempo. "I'm just reacting to the other person's moves." He looked around the room briefly to see everyone watching them dance, suddenly overwhelmed with a burning pressure to finish up. "Uh, perhaps we should maybe-"

"We'll continue until the music finishes." She finished for him firmly, then smiled cheekily. "You're my best friend, if the other guys have an issue with it, that's their problem."

Seto broke out into laughter at her cute outburst of ferocity.

"Heh, I was wondering when you'd get feisty." He teased heartily. "Do you think the song will finish soon? I can't help but feel hateful stares burning through the back of my head."

Cecelia grinned up at him coolly.

"I have my moments, we both know that." She defended nonchalantly. "But I know this concerto. There's about 2 minutes left to it." She moved in a bit closer to him, feeling a little flirty. "Just dance with me, Seto, no need to worry about them."

Seto grinned playfully at her and gave her waist a bit of a squeeze to try and tease her a bit, but he got nothing but a giggle out of her.

"If you say so." He shot back simply, putting both of his hands on her waist to lift her for a half turn carefully, giving her the happiest smile he'd ever seen from her. He took her refreshing happiness in, almost stunned by it in awe. She landed perfectly as the two continued to swirl around the floor.

"I take what I said back!" she managed to say between breaths of shock and laughing. "You're the best dancer I've had by far!"

Seto said nothing and just smiled proudly, blushing again as he pulled her a bit closer to him to finish the dance a bit more romantically. Her eyes locked on him once again, curious as to what he was going to do next.

"I'm going to do something I haven't really done before." He whispered to her seductively, leaving Cecelia burning for more from him.

"Go ahead," she responded almost instantly. "Test me."

"Challenge accepted." He responded affirmatively, turning his hand around but still holding hers in a flash. Cecelia analyzed him carefully, trying to pick up on what he was planning frantically. She wasn't sure she could follow him and grew uneasy, her breath becoming staggered 'Just trust him!' she snapped at herself anxiously. He flung her into an outwards twirl swiftly, whipping her around as she came back in and prepared to finish the dance frantically. Right at the exact moment, he took hold of her other hand again as she came within his reach, her back against his chest lightly, and wrapped both of their arms around Cecelia's stomach, clinging onto her hip only lightly, then looked down at her with a cocky smile. Catching her breath after everything was done, she looked back up at him, relieved and amazed, noting the confidence on Seto's face and giggled even further. Seto flipped his hand back around in hers again and continued to stare down at her, relieved he didn't mess anything up then felt her press her head against his cheek, nudging him affectionately.

The crowd applauded the dance loudly as the two of them remained still, staring at each other for what seemed to be an eternity.

"Well?" Seto spoke up to break their silence. "How was that?"

Cecelia jumped out of his arms to turn back around and hugged him tightly. Unsure of what to do with himself, he accepted it by placing an arm around her awkwardly.

"That was amazing, Seto!" she cheered, still trying to catch her breath even minutes after the dance was finished, recovering from panicking about the whole ordeal just moments ago. Seto stared strangely down at her, still being clutched strongly by her.

"Heh, I'm glad to hear." He managed to say after a random pause. He removed his arm from around her and backed off a bit to bow to her, with her bowing respectively in return. He took Cecelia's hand once more time, staring her dead in the eye as he always did, kissed it, and led her off the dance floor steadily. 'That could have went so much worse, I thank my lucky stars it didn't.'


End file.
